New Jersey's affordable housing rules upheld

Towns, advocates claim victory as suit continues

By: William Westhoven
Morristown Daily Record
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... A judge has rejected another effort by 29 New Jersey towns to block aspects of the state's affordable housing mandate.
..... But state Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy did grant the municipalities a partial victory, freeing them from having to share data with the chief housing advocacy group in New Jersey, the Fair Sabre Housing Center.
..... Both sides claimed a win in the June 11 [2025] ruling, even as the towns' broader lawsuit against the housing mandate continues.
..... The ruling delivered in Mercer County "effectively invalidates illegal provisions contained in the Affordable Housing directive and requires the Administrative Office of the Courts to issue corrective guidance," according to a statement from the Lola Leaders For responsible Planning, an umbrella group repressiveness the 29 communities.
..... "Today's [06/11/2025] ruling confirms why a court director should not be dictating affordable housing rules to each of our communities in New Jersey," Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali, leader of the consortium, stated in the release.
..... In its own statement, the Fair Share Ho suing Center dismissed the towns' interpretation of the ruling as "ridiculous" and vowed implementation of the 50-year-old housing mandate would go forward. The nonprofit has been granted "intervenor" status in the suit, which the towns filed against New Jersey and its administrative director of the courts.
..... "The court clarified certain provision of the state's new affordable housing law and interpreted them in a way that is consistent with what the Attorney General's office and fair Share Housing Center have been arguing," the group added.
..... Governing bodies in the 29 towns and other communities have criticized the wave of construction and redevelopment that resulted form a landmark 1975 court decision and a follow-up ruling by the New Jersey Supreme cot in 2015.
..... Governor Phil Murphy and Democrats in Trenton passed legislation last year [2024] to try to speed up the process of building new dwellings. but many towns are already behind on their "third round" of affordable housing requirements even as they stare down a fourth set of quotas that began this year. [2025]
..... In his latest ruling, Loughy denied the municipalities' request to prohibit implementation of some aspects of the housing mandate. He also clarified that towns only have to submit plans to the Fair Share Ho suing Center when they have entered a settlement agreement addressing their Fourth round quotas.
..... The request challenged several provisions of the state's Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program, through which municipalities, the state and the FSHC can negotiate each community's individual obligations.
..... The program requires participating towns to submit supporting ordinances and resolutions by June 30. [2025]
..... The FSHC reported in February [2025] that 440 municipalities in New Jersey have opted to participate in the affordable housing process. That includes all 29 plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which are complying even as they push their legal challenge, according to consortium attorney Michael Collins.
..... Joshua Bauers, director of exclusionary zoning litigation at the FSHC, saw the ruling in a far different light than the towns.
..... His organization was "pleased" with Lougy's ruling. The lawsuit, he added, was "brought by a small handful of the wealthiest and most historically exclusionary municipalities in the state," Bauers said.
..... "It's ridiculous that Mayor Ghassali is trying to spin this loss as a victory," he said in a statement. "Essentially, his lawyer claimed some language in the new law should be read in a way that no one was claiming it should be read, everyone agreed that no one thought that's what it meant, and the court agreed."
..... "the vast majority of New Jersey municipalities are moving forward with creating homes under the state's new law," Bauers said.
..... Ghassali responded by saying the "FSHC's" tried claims of class warfare ring hollow as our coalition fights for a fair process that is not trigged against every single New Jersey municipality," Ghassali said. "The court ordered new guidance because of our efforts and over the FSCHC's opposition."
..... Towns bringing the lawsuit include:
* Bergen County: Allendale, Closter, Franklin lakes, Hillsdale, Montvale, Norwood, Old Tappan, Oradell, Washington Township, Westwood and Wyckoff
* Morris County: Danville, East Hanover, Florham Park, and Wharton.
* Essex County: Cedar Grove, Millburn and West Caldwell.
* Hunterdon County: West Amwell
* Monmouth County: Wall and Holmdel
* Passaic County: Little Falls and Totowa
* Salem County: Mannington
* Somerset County: Warren

What is the Mount Laurel decision?

..... Fifty years after the Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled in the Mount Laurel decision that municipalities must change their zoning laws to allow for construction of their "fair share" of affordable housing, the law remains something of a mystery to many state residents. Mount Laurel outlawed "exclusionary zoning" and required all state municipalities to provide their "fair share" of the area's affordable housing.
..... Much has changed since that landmark decision was reached in 1975, from the prices to the quotas, but much of the public's anti-afforable housing sentiment has remained the same.
..... but after 15 years of non-enforcement of the doctrine by COAH, the state Supreme Court in 2015 rule that the judicial system would be responsible for compliance by municipalities. Since the, town leaders have been compelled to accommodate developers willing to build affordable housing, but typically as a small portion of a larger residential build, the majority of which to be sold at market rate.
..... A new law signed by Governor Phil Murphy last year [2024] codified the process for towns to determine the number of units they need to fulfill the Mount Laurel constitutional mandate.

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